Transporting large, awkward or bulky items is a long-recognized problem. Specialized carriers have been developed for motorcycles, bicycles and skis. Some of these carriers are mounted directly to the bumper. Others, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,301,953 to Abbott, 4,380,344 to Abbott, and 4,461,410 to Tartaglia are mounted to the tongue of a trailer hitch.
Another type of carrier is used with receiver type trailer hitches. These trailer hitches have a receiver mounted to the vehicle, the receiver having an elongate, rectangular receiver insert which is mounted within the receiver opening; the receiver insert has a ball hitch at the back end. The Abbott patents show structure for mounting a bicycle carrier to a receiver insert using a two-part saddle clamp which clamps over the receiver insert, the upright column being removably mounted to the saddle clamp. U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,414 to Deguevara shows a bicycle carrier which is fixed to a receiver insert. While the Abbott carriers allow for the normal use of the trailer hitch, the Deguevara bicycle carrier effectively eliminates such use.